Archive for 2022

Using an expert to get better results

Using an expert to get better results

The gym I go to has boxing bags. I like doing a Boxing HIIT workout with them. It’s great cardio and I always feel great afterwards. But I don’t know how to box. When you see some of the other guys hitting the bags, you realise that there is a lot more to it than […]

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The sorry mess that is the State pension

The sorry mess that is the State pension

We all know the State pension is a ticking timebomb. The Pensions Roadmap 2018 – 2023 stated that over the next 40 years, the ratio of workers to pensioners is expected to fall to 2.3:1. This is going result in a pension deficit of €400 billion over the next 50 years if changes weren’t made. […]

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Report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare - Pensions

Report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare – Pensions

The Report of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare was published last week. At 547 pages, this is a lengthy document and there is a huge amount of recommendations in it. As there is enough just on pensions, that is what I am going to concentrate on now. I will come back to some of […]

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Fear of dying too young

Fear of dying too young

Even before annuity rates dropped to the low rates that they are today, annuities had very much given way to the ARF as the retirement option of choice. Even though they were giving up guarantees and assuming all the investment risk, retirees preferred to have control of their own retirement fund. One of the biggest […]

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Paying off college debt isn’t the worse thing

In this week’s article, I am going to go Stateside and look at why the college debt forgiveness deal that Joe Biden announced is actually good for the US when you compare it to the tax deal that Donald Trump signed. Trickle down economics Donald Trump oversaw the biggest overhaul in the US tax code […]

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Time is your friend

We frequently hear people comparing investing to gambling. When in fact, they are the opposite. When you gamble, your greatest chances of coming out on top is in the near term. The longer you gamble, your chances of beating the house decrease further and further. With investing, the chances of losing money in the short […]

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Borrowing to invest in equities?

Borrowing to invest in equities?

Ask any financial advisor if you should borrow to invest in a basket of equities and 99.9% (0.1% margin of error) of them would tell you no. There are loads of reasons why you shouldn’t. The cost of entry for investing in equities is very low. You can just save up a small amount and […]

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Investing Confidence

Investing confidence

When I do a risk profiling questionnaire with clients with DataPoints, the first topic in the results that we talk about is Investing Confidence. Making decisions about investing requires you to have confidence in the decisions you make. You need to be confident that you invested in the correct assets and it will come good […]

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The four golden principles of investing

In the book, How much is enough? by Arun Abey & Andrew Ford, they lay out the four golden principles of investing. They are quite simple and easy to follow. They are not new either but sometimes we lose sight of them, especially when FOMO takes over and we want large returns instantly. Principle 1 […]

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Are you just holding onto the can?

In an episode of The Simpsons, in an attempt to get a free can of Crystal Buzz Cola, Homer sticks his arm up the chute of a vending machine and it gets stuck. He ends up with his other arm stuck up the chute of the candy machine. Just before they are about to saw […]

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